Veneer cutting machine



March 20, 1934. 1 F, MCCARROLL l 1,951,834 1 VENEER CUTTING MACHINEFiled June 2. 195?. 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. 31E'. ZIO (Jaw-026.

BY Mro.

ATTORNEYS.

March 20, 1934. J. F. MocARRoLL VENEER CUTTING MACHINE Filed June 2.1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. JEM@ @www BY Mq@ ATTORNEYS.

March 20, 1934. J. F. MccARRoLL Y v Y V1,951,834

VENEER CUTTING MACHINE Filed June 2. 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 n l` M y yqINVENTOR. Gym. .W0 Mmmm@ Y TTRNEYS.

Patented Mar. 20, 1934 VENEER. CUTTING MACHINE James F. McCarroll, BatonRouge, La.

Application June 2, 1932, Serial No. 614,995

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in veneer cutting machines, andits objects are as follows:

First, to avoid `the use of chucks of any type i for the gripping androtaticn of the block, thereby eliminating the excessive waste of Woodrepresented by the large-diametered core which is left as the result ofcurrently gripping the block between inordinately large chucks.

Second,` to provide a plurality of radially movable feed rollers forsupporting and rotating the block, said rollers enabling the reductionof the block until they virtually come together in the center.

Third, to regulate the thickness of the veneer by adjusting the meteringor check roller with reference to the adjusting knife so as to vary thedischarge space.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is anelevation of the improved veneer cutting machine viewing it from theloading end, the feed rollers being shown diametrically in order toavoid obscuring the core.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the loading opening, showing how thefeed roller brackets ultimately come together in the center, thesebrackets having been omitted in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the machine, showing the parts as thoughviewed in the direction of the arrow a in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a cross section taken on the line 4 4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a detail section taken substantially on the line 5 5 ofFigure 3, particularly illustrating the adjustment of the metering orcheck roller.

Figure 6 is a detail view of' a spindle used in connection with theforegoing roller adjustment.

Figure 'lV is a detail cross section taken on the line '7 7 of Figure4.,

Figure 8 is a detail cross section taken on the line 8 8 of Figure 4.

Figure 9 is a detail cross section taken on the line 9 9 of Figure 4.

Figure 10 is an elevation of the drive end of the machine, this beingthe end opposite to the loading end shown in Figure 1.

Figure 11 is a detail elevation of one of the socalled clamping shafts.

Figure 12 is a detail elevation of one of the driving shafts.

Figure 13 is a detail elevation of one of the feed rollers.

(Cl. l44 209) The instant invention is concerned with the making ofrotary cut Veneers. Machines currently used for this purpose are builtwithY axially opposed chucks or centers between which a section of log,commonly called a block, is gripped. Considerable power is required toturn the block against the resistance of the cutting knife. This makesit necessary to use inordinately large chucks, and although the size ofthe chucks depends somewhat upon the diameter of the block, it is notunusual for a chuck 10 in diameter to be used, and it is seldom thatchucks less than 6 in diameter are employed.

inasmuch as the cutting or slicing operation must be stopped before theperiphery of the chuck is reached it follows that a core anywhere from'7 to lll in diameter must be discarded. Such a large diametered corerepresents an eX- cessive waste of wood for veneer purposes and, aspreviously stated, one of the objects of the invention is to eliminatemuch of this Waste by eliminating the chucks. Briefly stated, chucks ascurrently used are substituted by a plurality of radially movable feedrollers which are so arranged that they will continue rotating the blockuntil they virtually come together at the center. The resulting core isapproximately 4 in diameter regardless of the original size of theblock.

Reference is made to the drawings. The main features of the veneercutting machine comprise 85 a fixed framework l of a suitable type.According to the instant showing the framework consists of a frontsupport 2 (Fig. l) a rear support 3 (Fig. 10) and spacing means 4 (Fig.4) of a proper type and in sufficient numbers to hold the two supportsfirmly in spaced relationship.

An opening 5 (Fig. l) enables loading the machine with blocks from whichthe veneer 6 (Fig.

4) is cut by means of a knife 7. Normally the block 8 (Fig. 4) issupposed to be of a large size, 95 virtually as large as the loadingopening 5. By

the time the cutting operation is completed it will have been reduced toa much smaller core 9 as shown in Figure 1. The block is supported androtated by a plurality of feed rollers 10 (Fig. 4). 100 These aremounted for radial movement with respect to the axis of rotation of theblock. After the block 8 (Fig. 4) is reduced to the core 9 (Fig. 1), themounts of the feed rollers are separated by radially outward movements,thus permitting the core 9 to drop between the lowermost rollers to anypoint of disposal.

The foregoing radial movement ascribed to the feed rollers 10 alsoapplies to the knife 7. The knife 'l and its coacting set of feedrollers move 110 (Fig.

together in radial directions, whether inward or outward. Theconstruction of the knife 7 and its accessories together with the meansfor regulating the thickness of the veneer 6 is as follows: A carriagel1 (Figs. 3, 4 and 5) includes grooved end members 12 which ride uponribs 13, cast or otherwise affixed to the inner and confronting faces ofthe front and rear supports 2, 3. The carriage 11 thus comprises a crossplate which has the members l2 at its ends, these members beingadditionally connected by a tie bar 14 which serves as a brace.

A stud 15 (Fig. 4), fixed in and projecting from the outer end of eachend member 12, has an adjustable connection 16 with the apron 17 of arack 18 which is mounted on the respective member 12 by a rib and grooveconnection generally denoted 19. The purpose of the connection 16 is toenable the making of some necessary initial adjustment of the members l2with reference to the racks 18, This produces an initial adjustment ofthe knife 7 with reference to the block 8. The rack must be regarded asfixed when its driving gear is stationary, thus the adjustments of theconnections 16 will cause movement of the members 12. After thisadjustment is once arrived at it ordinarily stays set, having nothing todo with the subsequent regulation of the thickness of the veneer aspresently brought out.

A bevelled side 20 (Fig. 5) of the carriage 11 comprises a rest againstwhich the knife 7 is firmly held by a clamp plate 21 and its clampscrews 22, The clamp plate bears against several abutments 23 inaddition to bearing against the knife 7, and it is these abutments whichcarry adjusting bolts 24 by means of which the knife 7 is set withrespect to the carriage l1 and with respect to a metering or checkroller 25. The adjustment kof the knife is made by loosening the clampscrews 22, turning the bolts 24 up or down and then again tightening thescrews 22.

There is a slight distance between the edge of the knife 7 and themetering roller 25, this distance being denominated the discharge space26 It is through this space that the veneer 6 emerges as cut by theknife 7 (Fig. 4). The thickness of the veneer is regulated by adjustingthe metering roller with respect to the knife edge, and the means andmode of making this adjustment are as follows:-

Trunnions 27 on the ends of the metering roller 25 have bearing inidentical journals 28 on the end members 12. A rib 29 on each journalrides in a groove 30 of the respective end member for true guidance inradial directions. A slot 31 in each journal accommodates a spindle 32(Fig. 6) which has threaded ends 33, 34. One of these is permanentlyscrewed into the respective end member 12. The other takes a nut 35which is intended to be screwed down on a washer 36 and so clamp thejournal 28 down.

A threaded hole in each spindle 32 receives an adjusting bolt 37 (Fig.5). Each bolt is swivelled in the front solid end 33 of the respectivejournal 28. Upon loosening the nut 35 the journal 23 can be shifted inor out by turning the bolt 37. When the space 26 has been regulated asdesired the nut 35 is again screwed home. The adjusting operation isperformed at each end so that the space 26 will be uniform throughout.

The metering roller 25 rides the periphery of the block 8 (Fig. 4) as dothe feed rollers 10. All of the rollers are pressed hard against theblock. The roller 25 has the additional purpose of preventing the veneerfrom chipping or splitting during the act of cutting, and it is not apower driven roller. The other rollers 10 are power driven, and themeans and mode by which they are driven are as follows:-

A main shaft 39 (Figs. 3 and l0) is driven by a belt 40 (Fig. 10) whichis applied to a pulley 4l on the shaft 39. The shaft carries a mastersprocket 42 which drives all of the minor sprockets 43 simultaneously,uniformly and in same direction by means of a chain 44 which is appliedin such a manner as to accomplish the purpose. The chain connection isillustrated in Figure 10, and the connection includes an idler sprocket45 which is yieldably mounted to accommodate the chain 44 to the radialmovements of the feed rollers 10 which it ultimately drives.

The yieldable mounting of the idler 45 comprises an arm 46 which ispivoted outside of the rear support 3 (Fig. 10) and has an adjustableconnection with a spring 47 which, being anchored upon the rear supportor elsewhere, exercises a constant force on the arm 46 so that thetightness of the chain 44 is maintained. The arm 46 swings outwardly tovtake up the slack in the chain as the feed rollers 10 (Fig. 4) advancetoward the core of the block 8, and swings inwardly to let out morechain, so to speak, when the rollers 10 are radially separatedpreparatory to inserting a fresh block through the loading opening 5.

Each of the minor sprockets 43 is carried by a driving shaft 48. Thereis one driving shaft for each feed roller l0, and inasmuch as each feedroller unit is identical the description is temporarily confined to oneunit, similar reference characters designating corresponding parts ofthe remaining four units. The uppermost feed roller unit (Fig. 4) isused for illustration.

This unit includes a roller 10 and driving shaft 48 as already broughtout. The driving shaft 48 is shown in Figure l2 while the feed rollerl() is shown in Figure 13. The shaft and rollers have intermeshing gears49, 50 by which the driving power of the shaft is transmitted to theroller.

The purpose of the intermeshiner gears is to appropriately space thesprocket 43 from the axial center of the block 8. It would be possibleto drive the roller l() direct, but in that case the various sprockets43 (Fig. l0) would interfere with each other before the rollers 10 cameas closely together at the center as desired.

Trunnions 51 (Fig. 13) on the remote ends of the assemblage 10, 50 havebearing in brackets 52 adjacent to the front and rear supports 2, 3.There is a pair of brackets, and the allied structure of each bracket isthe same in each instance.

The front bracket (as well as its companions) is shown in Figure 2, andit works in and out with respect to the axial center of the block 8 (aswell as its companions) immediately behind the loading opening 5. Therear bracket (as well as its companions) is shown in Figure 4 and itworks in the identical manner immediately to the inside of a radial slot53. l

The purpose of the radial slot 53 is to let the driving shaft 48 (Fig.l2) through. By matching Figure 12 with Figure 3 it will be seen thatthe shaft 48 extends beyond the gear 49 to the left of the rear support3. Consequently the sprocket 43 is at the rear of the machine, in otherwords at the drive end as shown in Figure 10. A portion of the shaft 48immediately at the left of the gear 49 has bearing in the rear bracket52 as does also the adjacent trunnion 51 of the feed roller 10 (Fig. 9).At the other end of the veneer cutting machine the front end of theshaft 48 and the adjacent trunnion 5l (Figs. 12 and 13) simply havebearing in the front bracket 52 (Fig. 2).

Each bracket 52 is scoured to an end member 54 (Figs. 2, 7 and 8). Theend members 54 are similar to the end members 12 of the carriage 11, andbeing so, they are grooved to ride upon ribs 55 which are either cast orotherwise secured to the insides of the front and rear supports. The endmembers 54 are held against the ribs 55 largely by tie bars 56 whichextend between the pairs at the opposite ends of the machine.Appropriate rib and groove connections 57 (Fig. 8) serve to mount a rack58 upon the respective end member 54. There is a limited yieldingbetween the rack 58 and the respective end member 54.

This yielding is provided by a spring 59 which stands between an apron60 on the end member 54 and an adjustable nut 61 on a stud 62 projectingfrom the rack 58 and through the apron 60. A lock nut 63 behind theapron 65 limits the movement of the rack 58 under the influence of thespring. The purpose of the spring is to compensate for any slightunevenness that may be encountered in the surface of the block 8. Shouldthe unevenness be a high place, the permissible outward movement of theend members 54 of the unit would be taken up by the springs 59, leavingthe racks 58 stationary.

Consideration is now given to the entire assemblage of feed roller units(Fig. 4) together with the knife carriage or unit 11. It will beunderstood from what has been said that these various units work inradial directions with reference to the axial center of the block 8. Tostate the condition more accurately, it is the feed rollers 10 and thecutting edge of the knife 7 which are movable inwardly and outwardly inradial directions. The ribs 13 and 55 are in a tangential relationshipto the block 8. This is so because the ribs are necessarily oifset fromthe radial plane which the centers of the feed rollers 10 and thecutting edge of the knife 7 traverse. Having the structure in mind,attention is now directed to the means and mode by which the feed rollerand like units are moved simultaneously A series of clamping shafts 64(Figs. 1, 4 and 1.1) is so distributed that the carried gears 65 engagethe racks 18 and 58, respectively of the knife unit and the feed rollerunits for turning operations in one or the other of two directions. Eachclamping shaft 64 has two of the gears 65 (Fig. 11) these gears comingnext to the front and rear supports 2, 8 so as to line up with thevarious racks 18, 58 which, it will be reinembered, are provided inpairs.

Each of the clamping shafts 64 also has a sprocket 66 (Figs. 1 and 11).These sprockets are at the loading end of the cutter (Fig. 1). Theymight be arranged at the drive end (Fig. 1.0), but they are shown at theloading end to avoid any possible confustion. All of the sprockets 66are connected by an endless chain 67 (Fig. 1)

One of the sprockets will be used as a master sprocket, for example thatsprocket a little behind a gear 68 on the clamping shaft 64 at theextreme right of Figure 1. This particular shaft 64 is made a littlelonger than the others so that its carried gear 68 may reach and meshwith a rack 69 which is connected with a piston 70 in a pressure fluidcylinder 71.

This cylinder has pipes 72, 73 for the admission and exhaust of thepressure fluid. In practice these 'pipes must be controlled by anappropriate valve device. The admission of pressure huid below thepiston 70 by way of the pipe 73 will tend to turn all of the clampingelements 64 in the counter-clockwise direction (arrows b, Fig. l). Thissame tendency traced to 'Figure 4 (arrows c) illustrates how all of theunits are driven inwardly so that the various rollers 10, 25 are made topress against the surface of the block 8. At the saine time the pipe 72must be opened so as to exhaust any fluid in the upper end of thecylinder.

The admission of pressure fluid into the upper end of the cylinder 71(Fig. 1) by way of the pipe 72 will have the reverse eifect. All of theshafts 64 will be turned clockwise, and by tracing the movement ofFigure 4 it will be understood that all of the units are simultaneouslymoved outwardly from the wood (then the core 9, Fig. l) so as to let thecore drop out and to make room for a fresh block.

The operation is readily understood. The first act of the workman willbe to expand the roller assemblage lll, 25 (Fig. 1), in other words,openl a valve in the pipe 72 for the admission of pressure fluid to theupper end of the cylinder 71 so i' of the opening can be inserted.Having inserted 1 the new block a reverse operation of the piston 7i)(Fig. 1) will drive the various feed roller and knife units inwardly(Fig. 4) to support and clamp the block. This reverse operation of thepiston is accomplished by letting pressure fluid a into the lower endofthe cylinder 71. The action of the pressure uid when admitted beneaththe piston 70 must be visualized. It exercises a constant pressure onthe roller and knife units (Fig.

4) so that these tend to constantly go in toward the center.

The action is best explained as that of keeping the various units undera constant tension. The rollers 10 (Fig. 4) are not intended to exercisea progressively greater pressure on the block 8, but merely maintain aconstant pressure so that the block is rrnly held and supportedthroughout Jthe reduction of its size by the constant peeling or slicingoff of the veneer 6. The sprockets 66 (Fig. 1) will turn very slowly,the turning being almost imperceptible. But they will turn as long asthe veneer 6 is being sliced off, thereby keeping the feed roller andknife units down to the work.

Simultaneously with the clamping function of the feed rollers 19 and thefeeding action of the knife 7 rotary motion is imparted to the feedrollers by the apparatus at the drive end of the cutter (Fig. lil). Thisapparatus includes the driven pulley 41 and its chain connection 44 withthe assemblage of minor sprockets 43 on the ends of the driving shafts48 from which the feed rollers are driven by the intermeshing gears 49,50.

The veneer cutting operation is continuous until all of the feed rollerbrackets 52 come tohad lil.)

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gether at the center (Fig. 2) and consequently can go no farther. Bycutting off parts of the brackets the concentrating movement mayprogress until the feed rollers touch. rlhis condition is suggested bythe diagrammatic showing in Figure l. The result of this arrangement isthat the cutting operation may go on until the block. 8 (Fig. 4) isreduced to a relatively small core 9 (Fig. l). The core per.- itted todrop out by reversing the piston '20, thereby expanding the feed rollerand knife units (Fig. 4).

It will be understood that the metering or check roller 25 bears againstthe block 8 with a force equal to that of the feed rollers l0. Themetering roller is adjustable by the arrangement shown in Figure 5, andit is the adjustment of this roller which regulates the thickness of theveneer.

I claim:-

l. .A veneer cutting machine comprising a framework including a supportwith radial slots, a knife, a plurality of feed rollers for supporting ablock in cutting relationship with the knife, means for revolving therollers including driving shafts having ends projecting through theslots, carrying means for the rollers and shafts, means on the frameworkto support the carrying means for radial movement of the rollers andshafts with respect to the slots, pressure operated means keeping thecarrying means under pressure to urge the rollers against the block andmeans to drive said shafts including a master sprocket, minor sprocketson the projecting ends of the shafts, a chain commonly applied to all ofthe sprockets, and an adjustable idler for taking up slack in the chainas said rollers are moved inwardly.

2. In a veneer cutting machine, a knife, a circular series of feedrollers for supporting and revolving the block against the knife,carrying means for the feed rollers including grooved end members, fixedribs on which he end members are slidable, an apron on each end member,a rack for each end member and means for moving the rack thereby movingthe end member, each rack having a slidable connection with therespective end member, a stud on each rack projecting through therespective apron, and a spring disposed between each apron and stud,said springs transmitting the sliding motion to the end members butenabling yielding of the end members with respect to the racks when thefeed rollers ride over uneven places.

3, A veneer cutting machine comprising a knife carriage having a knife,a metering roller mounted on the carriage and coacting with the knife,xed ribs on which the carriage is slidably supported with reference to ablock, a gear by which the carriage is slid, a rack interposed betweenthe gear and carriage, a slidable connection between the rack andcarriage, and means for making an initial adjustment between thecarriage and rack while the gear is stationary, thereby making aninitial adjustment of the knife and metering roller with respect to theblock.

JAMES F. MCCARROLL.

